Northeast Georgia Under Winter Storm Warning Until Thursday Morning

Northeast Georgia and North Georgia under a winter storm warning effective this afternoon from 4p to 7a Thursday morning.

According to the National Weather Service in Greenville-Spartanburg, rain is expected to begin later this afternoon but then switch over to snow.

Meteorologist Patrick Moore said the snowfall should begin this evening and be heaviest along the I-85 corridor.

“We’re going to see precipitation developing across the area this afternoon,” he said. “We expect it to be rain through mid to late afternoon. Then, as temperatures cool off and colder air comes in from the the north, the precipitation will change over to snow.”

Moore said most of the heavy snowfall will come in the evening hours and begin to taper off after midnight.

By daybreak, he said most of the snow will have moved out of our area.

However, Moore said Franklin and Hart Counties are right on the rain/snow line, which means some areas may see more rain than snow.

“So that makes it kind of tricky because the area around Franklin County is going to be fairly close to that transition,” he said. “Right now, the way we have our models set up Franklin County will be mostly in the snow. So, officially, we’re going right there in Franklin County somewhere around 5-6 inches.”

Moore said this system will move through quickly and people in most of Northeast Georgia including Franklin, Stephens, Hart, Banks, and Elbert counties can expect the heaviest amount of snow to fall this evening.

“Once the precipitation changes to snow, assuming it does change to snow, it’s going to come down very heavy and very fast. It’s going to come in like a burst on the order of one to two inches per hour for a period of two to three hours. So, that is going to overwhelm the roads very quickly.”

Meantime, Governor Nathan Deal yesterday declared 50 counties in North and Northeast Georgia to be in a State of Emergency effective at 2p this afternoon.

The Governor ordered all state government offices in those counties to close at noon today.